The present invention relates to a robot finger structure suitable for an industrial robot finger.
In recent years, various types of robots for performing jobs instead of human workers have been developed. In a conventional robot finger, a plurality of finger pieces are articulated to be pivotal about their joints by a joint mechanism and are driven by a driving force from a servo motor through a reduction gear mechanism. Therefore, the finger pieces are pivoted in the same direction to pivot a finger.
In this robot finger, since the servo motor and the reduction gear mechanism require a large space, the size of the finger is limited to a certain degree. At the same time, the number of joints is also limited, and fine movements cannot be obtained, thus posing many problems.
In order to solve the above drawbacks, a "robot finger structure" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 57-54966 is proposed. In this "robot finger structure, a plurality of first joints and a plurality of second joints are stacked on each other, and peripheral portions of the first and second joints are magnetized in opposite directions to cause them to attract to each other, thereby pivoting a finger. According to this "robot finger structure", a compact robot finger can be obtained by a simple structure. In addition, a multi-articulated finger can be easily formed, and pivotal motion of the finger can be finely and smoothly performed.
Although the above "robot finger structure" can obtain a compact finger with a simple arrangement, the first and second joints must be made of a magnetic material, thus resulting in high cost. In addition, since an overall weight is increased, the response speed is reduced by an increase in weight. The above robot finger structure cannot be easily assembled or disassembled, and the finger is still structurally complicated.